Abstract
Researches on flexible thermoelectric materials usually focus on conducting polymers and conducting polymer-based composites; however, it is a great challenge to obtain high thermoelectric ...properties comparable to inorganic counterparts. Here, we report an n-type Ag
2
Se film on flexible nylon membrane with an ultrahigh power factor ~987.4 ± 104.1 μWm
−1
K
−2
at 300 K and an excellent flexibility (93% of the original electrical conductivity retention after 1000 bending cycles around a 8-mm diameter rod). The flexibility is attributed to a synergetic effect of the nylon membrane and the Ag
2
Se film intertwined with numerous high-aspect-ratio Ag
2
Se grains. A thermoelectric prototype composed of 4-leg of the Ag
2
Se film generates a voltage and a maximum power of 18 mV and 460 nW, respectively, at a temperature difference of 30 K. This work opens opportunities of searching for high performance thermoelectric film for flexible thermoelectric devices.
We demonstrate that the thermoelectric properties of p-type chalcogenides can be effectively improved by band convergence and hierarchical structure based on a high-entropy-stabilized matrix. The ...band convergence is due to the decreased light and heavy band energy offsets by alloying Cd for an enhanced Seebeck coefficient and electric transport property. Moreover, the hierarchical structure manipulated by entropy engineering introduces all-scale scattering sources for heat-carrying phonons resulting in a very low lattice thermal conductivity. Consequently, a peak zT of 2.0 at 900 K for p-type chalcogenides and a high experimental conversion efficiency of 12% at ΔT = 506 K for the fabricated segmented modules are achieved. This work provides an entropy strategy to form all-scale hierarchical structures employing high-entropy-stabilized matrix. This work will promote real applications of low-cost thermoelectric materials.
GeTe is an interesting material presenting both spontaneous polarization (ferroelectrics) and outstanding electrical conductivity (ideal for thermoelectrics). Pristine GeTe exhibits classic 71° and ...109° submicron ferroelectric domains, and near unity thermoelectric figure of merit ZT at 773 K. In this work, it is demonstrated that Bi2Te3 alloying in GeTe lattice can introduce vast Ge vacancies which can further evolve into nanoscale van der Waals gaps upon proper heat treatment, and that these vacancy gaps can induce 180° nanoscale ferroelectric domain boundaries. These microstructures eventually become a hierarchical ferroelectric domain structure, with size varying from submicron to nanoscale and polarization from 71°, 109° to 180°. The establishment of hierarchical ferroelectric domain structure, together with the nanoscale Ge vacancy van der Waals gaps, has profound effects on the electrical and thermal transport properties, resulting in a striking peak thermoelectric ZT ≈ 2.4 at 773 K. These findings might provide an alternative conception for thermoelectric optimization via microstructure modulation.
Nanoscale‐charged domain walls and microdomains, together with Ge van der Waals gaps in Bi2Te3 alloyed GeTe, combine to make a complex hierarchical architecture which realizes an outstanding figure of merit ZT ≈ 2.4 at 773 K via simultaneous modulation of charge carriers and phonons.
The high-entropy concept provides extended, optimized space of a composition, resulting in unusual transport phenomena and excellent thermoelectric performance. By tuning electron and phonon ...localization, we enhanced the figure-of-merit value to 2.7 at 750 kelvin in germanium telluride–based high-entropy materials and realized a high experimental conversion efficiency of 13.3% at a temperature difference of 506 kelvin with the fabricated segmented module. By increasing the entropy, the increased crystal symmetry delocalized the distribution of electrons in the distorted rhombohedral structure, resulting in band convergence and improved electrical properties. By contrast, the localized phonons from the entropy-induced disorder dampened the propagation of transverse phonons, which was the origin of the increased anharmonicity and largely depressed lattice thermal conductivity. We provide a paradigm for tuning electron and phonon localization by entropy manipulation, but we have also demonstrated a route for improving the performance of high-entropy thermoelectric materials.
Disordered but efficient
Thermoelectric materials, many having relative simple compositions, convert heat into electricity. However, Jiang
et al
. found that adding more cations into a germanium tellurium–based material stabilized a phase with excellent thermoelectric properties. This high-entropy material has low thermal conductivity due to the cation disordering but improved symmetry that helps maintain good electrical properties. The material was used in several devices that showed a high thermoelectric efficiency. —BG
A high-entropy material is an outstanding thermoelectric with a combination of delocalized electrons and localized phonons.
Lead telluride has long been realized as an ideal p‐type thermoelectric material at an intermediate temperature range; however, its commercial applications are largely restricted by its n‐type ...counterpart that exhibits relatively inferior thermoelectric performance. This major limitation is largely solved here, where it is reported that a record‐high ZT value of ≈1.83 can be achieved at 773 K in n‐type PbTe‐4%InSb composites. This significant enhancement in thermoelectric performance is attributed to the incorporation of InSb into the PbTe matrix resulting in multiphase nanostructures that can simultaneously modulate the electrical and thermal transport. On one hand, the multiphase energy barriers between nanophases and matrix can boost the power factor in the entire temperature range via significant enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient and moderately reducing the carrier mobility. On the other hand, the strengthened interface scattering at the intensive phase boundaries yields an extremely low lattice thermal conductivity. This strategy of constructing multiphase nanostructures can also be highly applicable in enhancing the performance of other state‐of‐the‐art thermoelectric systems.
A new strategy of constructing multiphase nanostructures can enhance the thermoelectric power factor and reduce the lattice thermal conductivity simultaneously. Through this strategy, it is reported that a record‐high ZT value of ≈1.83 can be achieved at 773 K in n‐type PbTe‐4%InSb composites. Furthermore, the mechanisms introducing multiphase nanostructures are also highly applicable in other thermoelectric systems.
Microstructure manipulation plays an important role in enhancing physical and mechanical properties of materials. Here a high figure of merit zT of 1.2 at 357 K for n‐type bismuth‐telluride‐based ...thermoelectric (TE) materials through directly hot deforming the commercial zone melted (ZM) ingots is reported. The high TE performance is attributed to a synergistic combination of reduced lattice thermal conductivity and maintained high power factor. The lattice thermal conductivity is substantially decreased by broad wavelength phonon scattering via tuning multiscale microstructures, which includes microscale grain size reduction and texture loss, nanoscale distorted regions, and atomic scale lattice distotions and point defects. The high power factor of ZM ingots is maintained by the offset between weak donor‐like effect and texture loss during the hot deformation. The resulted high zT highlights the role of multiscale microstructures in improving Bi2Te3‐based materials and demonstrates the effective strategy in enhancing TE properties.
Hot deformation is directly applied to zone melted Bi2Te3−xSex ingots to optimize the thermoelectric performance. The induced multiscale microstructures, including microscale grain refinement, nanoscale distorted regions, and atomic‐scale point defects, reduce the lattice thermal conductivity but maintain the high power factor, resulting in a high figure of merit of zT ≈ 1.2 at 357 K.
Thermoelectric technology enables the harvest of waste heat and its direct conversion into electricity. The conversion efficiency is determined by the materials figure of merit
Here we show a maximum
...of ~2.8 ± 0.5 at 773 kelvin in n-type tin selenide (SnSe) crystals out of plane. The thermal conductivity in layered SnSe crystals is the lowest in the out-of-plane direction two-dimensional (2D) phonon transport. We doped SnSe with bromine to make n-type SnSe crystals with the overlapping interlayer charge density (3D charge transport). A continuous phase transition increases the symmetry and diverges two converged conduction bands. These two factors improve carrier mobility, while preserving a large Seebeck coefficient. Our findings can be applied in 2D layered materials and provide a new strategy to enhance out-of-plane electrical transport properties without degrading thermal properties.
We report a greatly enhanced thermoelectric performance in a BiCuSeO system, realized by improving carrier mobility through modulation doping. The heterostructures of the modulation doped sample make ...charge carriers transport preferentially in the low carrier concentration area, which increases carrier mobility by a factor of 2 while maintaining the carrier concentration similar to that in the uniformly doped sample. The improved electrical conductivity and retained Seebeck coefficient synergistically lead to a broad, high power factor ranging from 5 to 10 μW cm–1 K–2. Coupling the extraordinarily high power factor with the extremely low thermal conductivity of ∼0.25 W m–1 K–1 at 923 K, a high ZT ≈ 1.4 is achieved in a BiCuSeO system.
Dye-sensitized solar cells based on titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) are promising low-cost alternatives to conventional solid-state photovoltaic devices based on materials such as Si, CdTe and ...CuIn(1-x)Ga(x)Se(2) (refs 1, 2). Despite offering relatively high conversion efficiencies for solar energy, typical dye-sensitized solar cells suffer from durability problems that result from their use of organic liquid electrolytes containing the iodide/tri-iodide redox couple, which causes serious problems such as electrode corrosion and electrolyte leakage. Replacements for iodine-based liquid electrolytes have been extensively studied, but the efficiencies of the resulting devices remain low. Here we show that the solution-processable p-type direct bandgap semiconductor CsSnI(3) can be used for hole conduction in lieu of a liquid electrolyte. The resulting solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells consist of CsSnI(2.95)F(0.05) doped with SnF(2), nanoporous TiO(2) and the dye N719, and show conversion efficiencies of up to 10.2 per cent (8.51 per cent with a mask). With a bandgap of 1.3 electronvolts, CsSnI(3) enhances visible light absorption on the red side of the spectrum to outperform the typical dye-sensitized solar cells in this spectral region.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
One of the intellectual challenges for next generation thermoelectric materials revolves around the synthesis and fabrication of hierarchically organized microstructures that do not appreciably ...compromise the innate high power factor of the chosen thermoelectric system, but significantly reduce lattice thermal conductivity to enhance the overall figure of merit, ZT. An effective emerging strategy is to introduce nanostructures into bulk thermoelectric materials, which allow for diverse phonon scattering mechanisms to reduce thermal conductivity. In this review, we present key examples to show the intricate but tractable relationship across all relevant length-scales between various microstructural attributes (point, line, interfacial and mesoscale defects; as well as associated elastic and plastic strain) and lattice thermal conductivity in systems based on PbTe matrices. We emphasize the need for an overarching panoscopic approach that enables specific design strategies for the next generation of thermoelectric materials.
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